Ganado, Arizona, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ganado, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Ganado lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Ganado — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ganado — the short answer
Ganado, Arizona: USDA zone 6b, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 6K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 6b is Ganado's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ganado's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ganado
Each reading below is measured for Ganado itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGanado runs about 170 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredGanado sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Ganado is in
Ganado sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Ganado's own centroid rather than borrowed from Apache County.
What Grows in Ganado
Every plant below cleared Ganado's own zone 6b and its 170-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arizona profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ganado?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 18 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Ganado
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ganado. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 17 110-03.22X02.78Nitrate · 1.3 mi
- GANADO WATER OPER AND MAINTBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- 17 110-02.21X02.51Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- 17 110-04.68X02.91Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- 17 110-01.71X02.28Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- 17 110-04.68X01.17Nitrate · 3.2 mi
- 17 110-00.48X01.43Nitrate · 3.7 mi
- 17 110-02.28X08.93Nitrate · 4.9 mi
- 17 110-08.83X03.67Nitrate · 5.7 mi
- 17 090-13.80X15.90Nitrate · 6.3 mi
- 17 109-10.60X00.50Nitrate · 7.4 mi
- 17 090-13.28X14.61Nitrate · 7.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ganado's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Ganado.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ganado
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ganado, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 32 sites within ~10 miles of Ganado. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Ganado
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ganado average
Your land is one point inside Ganado
Everything above resolves to Ganado as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 6K acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Ganado Average
Ganado Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Ganado
- ●One soil character for all of Ganado
- ●Frost dates read at Ganado's scale: May 1 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ganado's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ganado
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ganado, Arizona — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ganado averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ganado — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ganado average
How we know this about Ganado
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Ganado’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Ganado
When does frost risk typically end in Ganado?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ganado typically lands around May 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about May 22.
When is the first frost in Ganado?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ganado typically arrives around Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 4, so the watching starts about Sep 18 — about 170 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ganado?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ganado sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Oct 4, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ganado?
The federal record around Ganado shows 35 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (32), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Ganado?
From about Sep 18 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Oct 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Oct 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ganado's scale — its 6b band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ganado's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Ganado’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ganado's own scale — its own ~170-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,853 acres it covers and 35 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ganado's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ganado's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 18 and the ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 35 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ganado, the closest Nitrate record about 1.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ganado's boundary and the 5,853 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ganado's own centroid, the Arizona/New Mexico PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ganado's 5,853 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Apache County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Apache County
- The growing challenges every Arizona grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Arizona
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Apache County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ganado's 5,853 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ganado you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,853 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 1.3 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Ganado-wide figureread your own land →
More in Arizona
Wider growing context
What grows across ArizonaGanado sits outside our named growing regions, so Arizona as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides